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Legal-Kal, Attorney

Category: Traffic Law

Satisfied Customers: 554

Experience: Attorney at Law Offices of Khaled Issa

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Received a 40-6-50() citation in Columbus, Muscogee County,

Customer Question

Received a 40-6-50(b) citation in Columbus, Muscogee County, GA. Court date not until December 17th. Was at a traffic standstill in which I watched as a police car refused to allow citizens to merge from the left lane into the right lane; blocking each as they attempted to turn. I was in the right far right lane (the gore I guess) and turned on my blinker and proceeded to see if he would let me in; instead he rolled down his window and said "I could give you a ticket if I wanted to". I then said "are you going to let me in"? To which he again stated that "I could give you a ticket if I wanted to". So I said "give me a ticket" and puleed over and after a couple of seconds he did so and ticketed me. I am basically tired of police officers that show a lack of respect for the citizens when in non-emergency situations. In the last 7 years I have had two speeding tickets and a wreck that was the result of a medical condition; the most recent of these being in 2010. Not exactly a spo

I'm sorry to hear about your run in with this one officer who seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Unfortunately, there are many out there who give the good officers who are just doing their job a bad name.

To better assist you today, what is the exact question or issue you have? Your questions appears to cut off after you mention your most recent ticket in 2010.

Agree with most being good, but not all. Second question first, how many points are associated with a "gore violation" in GA?Second question is that I am 58 and have never been in a court room. Upon researching where I would be going I determined that I would be going to Recorders Court, where the judge of that court is appointed by the City Counsel; he is ostensibly an employee of the city just like the police officer. As such, do I have any options other than letting him determine my guilt and fine?

Ok, I will begin with your first question. As of right now, a "gore violation" is subject to 3 points for a conviction of the offense. Now, if you are eligible for a deferred prosecution, and you complete that (that usually entails traffic safety school and payment of fines and fees), then you may be able to avoid the points on your driver's license.

This goes to your second question as well. While you fairly surmise that these "judges" are generally appointed by the city counsel and not subject to the usual voting process for other judges, you still do have options other then letting him determine your guilty and fine you. As you may be aware, you can demand a trial. However, from what you have told me, you would not be successful (even though the officer was being difficult with you, that does not excuse the violation committed under the law). However, if you do request a trial and that officer does not happen to be in Court on the day of the trial, then the State will not be able to present the testimony and evidence required to convict you of the offense.

Quite frankly, you may even have the opportunity to explain to the judge what had occurred during this trial as well. However, you must walk a fine line between explaining the events and insinuating that the officer was a troublemaker as some judges will not tolerate such insinuations, while some judges are aware that some officers do often do things like this. If you have a judge who knows that certain officers "misbehave" while on the job, the judge may throw the ticket out even though it is not a valid defense (often in smaller traffic cases like this, the judges are more likely to side or empathize with the person ticketed and disregard the letter of the law).

Your option would be to request some type of deferred prosecution. If the prosecutors see that you have a "decent" background, they may be more amenable to offer you traffic school in order to avoid the conviction and points on your record.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. If so, I would be more than happy to answer them.

It has been a couple of days since we last discussed your matter. I am wondering if you have any follow up questions I can answer? If not, please click "accept" and leave positive feedback as that is the only way experts can receive credit for their responses. Thanks and good luck!